Shah of Shahs, Paperback/Ryszard Kapuscinski

This book tells the story of Mohammed Reza, the last Shah of Iran. But the book also covers that it is not just the person but the ecosystem of repression that keeps a dictator in power. In the Shah's case it was the villainous secret police, known as Savak, that shored up his throne with a rule of terror. Eventually the Iranian people turned on their oppressors in a bloody revolution that was powered by self-sacrifice and martyrs' blood.